Ancient Myths
by Rosalynne Stone
Summary: A twist on the Percy Jackson story, with original characters who are discovered to be demi-gods out of nowhere. Secrets and destinies are revealed, which can lead to chaos or peace and harmony. Figure out what the demi-god's future holds in store for them.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _Hiya guys! It's my first ever upload of a story, so I hope you like it! I worked really hard on this, for a project, called NNWM, also known as National Novel Writing Month. I have a couple of chapter for you guys already written, so I hope that'll hold you over till I continue it! I have special extras (drawing of what the OC's look like, some basic info, and other stuff) that you guys can access, if you want to, by PM-ing me. The only catch, is you have to give me a constructive criticism when you ask for these things in your email. Thank you, hope you enjoy! :)_

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Gods and Goddesses, they're just myths created for people way back when the Greeks needed someway, somehow to explain why the tides move back and forth on the shores of beaches. They're not real, just some made up stories that were told for eons, right? Well some kids, called half-bloods, are the children of these "made up" gods and goddesses; and I'll tell ya it's not easy being the son of a god, especially if you're a child of The Big Three.

There is one particular demigod's story that happened shortly after Percy Jackson arrived at Camp Half-Blood. It was about a month after Percy's first day at camp, when everyone finally got to settle down with the new Sea kid. Compared to the Sea Kid's journey to the hill, her's looked more peaceful. She didn't have to evade a Minotaur and her mom didn't turn into a shower of gold.

A taxi-man had taken her most of the way to Montauk from Smithtown, NY, where she met up with Samson in a rental cabin. The man was furious at her for not paying the correct amount of money that he charged her for, being more than a few dollars short.

The three demigods hardly knew one another, but bonded immediately like cousins. Morning came after a peaceful night of rest and the challenge to climb the Hill became apparent. Ariana and Samson woke up earlier than Irene. They waited outside for Irene, looking out at the waves crashing onto the sand.

Ariana had Irene's bag slung across her shoulder. The cabin was cleaned out, they've must of cleaned it out while she was sound asleep. Irene smiled at Ariana in thanks for taking her bag for her. Irene walked up to the two, squeezed herself in between them, and link arms with the both of them.

They began walking in the direction of a large hill, led by Ariana, hidden by the trees that inhabits it. The hill couldn't be seen by the naked eye, but Ariana had "special eyesight" which allowed her to see beyond the branches of the sturdy trees. As they walked, the water in Samson's metal canteen sloshed around, making a hollow sound.

The hill seemed endlessly covered in flowers and bright green grasses, even though it was rather close to a road which was covered with trash. Ariana gave an irritated goat-like bleat at this, she was always an environmentalist. One time, some jocks at Irene's school had tried to throw away trash from lunch, but missed and Ariana told them to pick it up, even though she was a underclassman and she was a girl. The jocks listened to her and she never saw them miss the again.

Ariana broke away from the link and reached down and picked up the trash, starting to make a basket out of her shirt. Samson rolled his eyes and said "Look, we'll come down later and pick it up. Okay?" Ariana overturned the trash out of her shirt slowly, knowing that he'll keep his word.

After a brief moment, she came skipping awkwardly towards them and linked arms with Samson, with a big smile on her face. They trudged up the steep hill, trying their best not to crush the flowers beneath their feet. After what seemed a short while, they reached the top where a beautiful tree stood proud and tall. The tree looked at least a decade old, it's wide trunk bigger than two of their heads together. Ariana looked up the tree, admiring it's thick branches. "Oh, Thalia." She murmured to herself.

Thalia, isn't that a girl's name? Irene thought as she followed Ariana's gaze up the tree. She wondered why it was called Thalia, as if it were human. Ariana snapped out of her daze and took Irene and Samson's hands. She started running, faster than she would normally walk, dragging them along behind her. They started going downhill, gaining more speed as they ran down the steep hill, which they tried desperately not to fall over. They ended at the bottom, racing each other with the speed they still had left.

As they caught their breath, the first thing you saw was a big house sitting about a mile away. It is painted baby blue and has a porch that seems to wrap completely around the house. Ariana led the two towards the house, which she could now clearly see men sitting at a table. As they stepped foot on the lawn, she could see they were playing a sort of card game. One of the men were wearing a Hawaiian shirt and seemed Vinofile. The other was in a wheelchair and wore a tweed jacket. The man in the Hawaiian shirt looked up from his cards and rolled his eyes at us.

As we take on the steps, the card game seemed to be less more and more less interesting to the man in the wheelchair. The man waved to us, as he set down his cards. "Ah, Ariana. It was a safe trip, I presume?" He asked.

"Yes, sir. No Kindly Ones bothered us."

"Good, good. Now, you've brought an extra one with you this time. Who's this young lad?" He asked.

"Oh, uh, this is Samson. I found him as I was heading up to Montauk with Irene. He caused some trouble with the Chimera though." Ariana said with a monotone voice.

The man raised his eyebrows but dismissed the topic. "I'm Chiron, if Ariana hadn't already told you. I'm the activities director for this camp." He stated holding out his hands for the two to shake.

Irene shook his hand carefully whereas Samson shook it firmly. "Take a seat, if you will."

Obliged, they took a seat upon a plastic lawn chair. "This is Mr.D, our camp director." Chiron said as Mr.D lazily spun his hand in the air and a Cherry Diet Coke appeared out of thin air. He popped the tab and brought the Coke to his lips, keeping his eyes on Chiron's cards and his own.

"Mmm, right. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood." He said mildly. Chiron gave a brief disappointed look at Mr. D and brought his attention back onto the three in front of him. "Since you had came half an hour before supper, we'll give you a tour of the place tomorrow and explain the situation to you. For now, Ariana will show you to your cabin and you'll head with them to dinner."

Ariana nodded and stood up from the table. "Come on, better get you guys situated sooner than later." She said with an urgent tone in her voice like she wanted to leave ASAP.

"Thank you, Mr. D and Chiron." She added before walking down the porch steps, the two following behind her. The house seemed to look bigger and bigger as they moved away from it, revealing it was actually four stories. As the three walked through the strawberries fields, a kid with shaggy legs played a tune on a reed pipe. Small horns seemed to be growing on the top of his head.

"A-ariana?! Why does h-he have-" Irene asked, pointing her shaky finger at the goat-boy

"Oh, he's a Satyr."

"Like, in the myths?"

"Blaa-ha-ha! A myth?! You think I'm a myth?!" Ariana said sharply.

"You're a Satyr?"

"Satyress; and yes, we're real."

"Oh. That explains a lot…" Irene muttered to herself.

"Come on. We've got a bit to go before we head to the cabins." Ariana said leading the way through the field. A Satyr wolf whistled her on his reed pipes as she walked past him. A furious blush immediately spread across her cheeks as she moved faster, pulling Samson and Irene along behind her by the wrists.

Irene and Samson didn't dare say a word about this incident to Ariana, knowing it would not end pretty. Along their way to the cabins, they passed a stable full of horse which seemed to have wings, an Armory where burly looking kids were making swords, and an arena where a guy with blond hair and a double bladed sword was tearing a dummy up.

As we got to the cabins, a bathhouse made out of cinder blocks gushed something out of it's toilets.

"What was that?" Irene asked.

"It's probably Percy, practicing his skills or something…" Ariana answered.

"Who's Percy?" Irene and Samson asked at the same time.

"Oh, you'll know him soon enough…" She said.

Samson looked at Irene and shrugged.

A cabin with a caduceus over its doorway stood before them.

"Cabin eleven. This will be your home, for now. Go on in and say 'Hi'" Ariana said to them.

She stepped aside so they could walk in. On the inside, boys and girls were tightly packed in the room. Sleeping bags outnumbered the amount of bunk beds there were, and not a lot of space was offered to the two. Neither of them would talk till Ariana prompted them with her fingers.

"Uh, I'm Samson." He said. He nudged Irene in her side gently with his elbow.

"Oh, um, hi. I'm Irene." She said looking up from her shoes. The faces of cabin eleven looked real smug. Most of them had mischievous smiles on their face.

One of the boys asked "Undetermined or regular?" Eager eyes looked at us, well, they might not of been eager to have us in their cabin.

"Undetermined." Ariana answered for them. A lot had groaned whereas some frowned at us. Ariana gently shoved us forwards saying "Alright. I'm sure that spot over there isn't taken. I'll see you guys at dinner. Bye!"

We had to walk over people and their sleeping bags to get to the empty space. We both sat down, crossed legged, and looked at the other campers.

"So…" Samson said. "What should we do before dinner?"

The kids thought about it before grinning mischievously at one another. "Volleyball." The oldest guy said from a corner of the cabin. "Let's do volleyball." Samson nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, alright." Everyone except the two immediately stood up, wicked grins plastered across their face. "Let's go!" They shouted as they pushed their way through the door. Samson stood up and offered his hand to Irene. Irene took his hand and got up with his help.

They followed after cabin eleven, Satyrs pausing their game to see where all the whooping and hollering is coming from. When they got to the sand court, the Satyrs stayed where they were at but some eleven kids moved over to their side. The sides looked even now, making it a fair game.

Irene looked back at all the kids who had their game face on, then looked back up at the Satyrs who were stretching their legs, twisting their ankle around in a circle. Somebody blew a whistle and a spiker jumped up and hit the ball hard. It flew across the court, going past someone who dived for it.

The campers who couldn't (or didn't want to) play stood in the sidelines, ooo-ing when the ball whizzed past. They gave a nice clapping which the spiker grinned cocksure. The other team retrieved the ball quickly and whizzed it right past his head, his grin faded.

The game continued, till a conch horn shell blew. The oldest guy, a tall sandy cropped hair body builder, yelled "Eleven, line up!".

Other cabins lined up outside as well, except for cabins three, two, and one. To get to the mess hall, they had to walk over the hill. Ariana joined with Samson and Irene from what seemed to be a meadow.

"So, how was your volleyball game?" She asked them.

"Oh, our cabin won." Irene replied.

"I had to stand on the sidelines. How'd you know we played volleyball?" Samson asked suspiciously.

"The Satyrs who were playing with you told me, silly." Ariana replied with a giggle.

The hall actually turned out to be a pavilion, with torches around its marble columns. The line of cabin eleven lead to a table that looked too small for that many people. Samson and Irene were left on the ends of the benches, trying to stay on them.

A centaur, who looked like the tweed jacket man earlier, pounded his hoof on the floor and raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else did the same as he. Nymphs that seemed to have wood for skin carried platters of food. The platters were passed around, and Irene loaded her plate with strawberries, cheese, bread, and briskets. She began to wonder what to fill her drinking glass with when the guy in front of her said "Tell it whatever you want. Go ahead, try."

She asked it curiously "Grape Fanta?" The glass began filling itself with dark purple liquid. She smiled excitedly as she nudged Samson to try as well. His glass filled with a clear liquid, with tiny bubbles in it.

"Sparkling water?" She asked him.

"No, Sprite. Ever had it?" He said. She shook her head no.

"Here, you can have the first sip, if you'd like." He said holding the glass out to her. She took the glass into her hands and took a tiny sip. She began snorting and coughing carbonation out of her nose shortly after it went down.

"Didn't like it much?" He asked.

"It's fine, but I just wasn't prepared for that." She said after gaining control of herself. They both chuckled and looked up to see the campers getting up and walking over toward a fire in the middle of the pavilion, plates in hand.

They followed after them, noticing how they scraped in portions of their meal into the fire. "Oh, it must be offerings." She said.

"To whom?" He asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. They both dumped in their rolls, not really knowing who to send their offerings to. As they returned to their seats, expectant eyes followed them. After swallowing, the oldest guy cleared his throat and said "We know your names, but you don't know ours. So, we'll go around the table. Say you're name, how or when you got here, and something about yourself." He pointed to the boy the right of him. "You, go."

Most of the campers stories were varied; they all weren't around the same age, they had gotten here in slightly similar ways, and they favored the God Hermes. When it was Irene's turn, she wasn't really sure what to say.

"Well, I'm Irene. Hmm, how I got here…." She thought of what to say, maybe giving the whole story instead of bits and pieces.

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 **A/N:** _Sorry that this is so long, but I really couldn't cut it any other way! I had written this all ahead of time, without dividing it into chapters. If I had thought about that ahead of time, it may be shorter. Again, gomen! ๑•́ㅿ•̀๑) ᔆᵒʳʳᵞ_


	2. Chapter 2

Her life story went along the lines of this: Morpheus, The God of Dreams appeared, well, in her dream one night when she had come home from a long day at her private boarding school, Rutherford middle. Her dream started out normal, a black canvas being painted into images. She saw herself getting closer towards a field. Morpheus stood in the field of wheat stalks, not changing form into another man like he usually does. Irene stood, facing him across the way.

She remembered she had learned about him in her Latin class. Why was he appearing in her dream?

"You're Morpheus, right? God of Dreams?" She asked him. He nodded curtly. "Well, uh, what'cha doing here?" She asked with a nervous tone.

"I've come to deliver a message. You're familiar with the Goddess Demeter?" He said.

"Yeah, why?" She asked.

"She asked me to tell you this: You must travel to the beaches of Montauk with the one who serves loyal to you and the one you care for deeply. A cabin you three will find, with the son of the Light God, waiting for you. You must travel to the hill for Half-Bloods before sundown, or else monsters await you. I wish you safety and fair health." He finishes.

Who's loyal to me? Who's the son of Light? What's the hill for Half-Bloods? She thought over the message, repeating it over and over again in her head.

"The God of Light, he's Apollo, right?" She asked him.

He nodded once again. She thought more about the hill.

"Half-bloods… Are they children of gods? Are they half God and half mortal?" She asked.

He nodded once more.

"Am… am I a half-blood?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Yes. One of thy parents were an Olympian, thy other a mortal. The Olympian is the Greek Goddess Demeter, Goddess of the harvest and agriculture." He finished.

As every word came out of his mouth, the dream slowly started to fade away, turning into the darkness behind her eyelids. She woke up and blinked the sleep from her eyes. It was morning, already. She noticed a small piece of parchment on the corner of her desk. She stretched, reaching up towards the sky. She got up from her bed and walked over to her desk and picked up the parchment. It had the message Morpheus told her written on it in gold ink with the address of the cabin. She then realized it wasn't just a dream, it really was real. She dropped the parchment and backed away from it, backing up into the frame of her bed and sitting on it. She held her head in her hands, wondering what her dad would think of this.

Right on cue, her dad came into the room, a worried look etched itself across his face.

"Honey, is everything alright?" He asked sitting next to her, wrapping his arms around her.

"Yeah, it's just that well…." She said not knowing how to put it in words. "Mom, she had, uh, came into my dream and…" She said trailing on. "She told me to go to Half-Blood hill with Ariana and you."

His face fell as he processed this. "It was just a dream, it doesn't mean anything…" He said trying to convince her.

"Then, what's this?" She said standing up and walking over to her desk. She dropped the parchment in his lap. He read it silently, over and over till he could recall the words.

"I-it's just a coinci-" He was interrupted by Irene's hand in his face, stopping him from making any further excuses.

"No, it's not. You know the truth, don't you?" She asked with a stern face.

He nodded slightly and didn't look up to meet her eyes. "Your mother, Demeter, she told me who she was when we got married. I was fine with it, till she told me she wouldn't be around as much and I couldn't tell you till a certain age. That's where I struggled." He paused looking up at Irene's face but quickly returning his gaze to his hands. "There weren't many instances where I would have trouble with the other side, but they still were hard to cover up for."

She thought about the times where things out of the ordinary would happen. "What sort of instances?" She asked curiously.

"Do you remember that day in fifth grade when you had been followed into an ally after school?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh."

He continued. "Well, that was someone who was out to get you. Demeter, your mother, had angered Hades by trying to take her daughter, Persephone, out of the underworld again. She almost succeeded, if Hades hadn't threatened to kill you, her Demigod daughter. She didn't believe him at first, till he offered to swear on the River Styx that he would kill all of the children she would have. Eventually, he got his wife back and she didn't lose you."

She nodded solemnly, not knowing what to say. "So, what do we do?" She asked.

"We do as it says. Me, you, and Ariana head to Montauk, tomorrow. I have to get some money out of the bank and my paycheck comes tomorrow." He said standing up, placing the parchment on the desk.

"We just get up and leave, with no final thought?" She asked slightly outraged.

"Well, a God is a force not to be reckoned with. Especially when you are married to one…" He murmured, thinking about how much money he'll need to take.

A knock came from the door outside the apartment. Irene walked to the door and looked through the peephole. Ariana stood looking nervous and anxious to get in. Irene unlocked the door and open it.

"Ariana, what're you doing here?" She asked.

"Hey, can I come in?"

"Uh, yeah sure." She walked through the door and Irene closed it behind her and locked it.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's just that I wanted to talk to you about-" She said stopping as Irene's dad walking into the room. The look on his face told her that he already explained a portion of the truth to Irene.

"Ah, so you're dad told you." She said.

"Told me what?" Irene asked confused.

"Here, let's sit down and talk about it." He said, gesturing towards the couches. They sat down, Ariana in an armchair the other two on the couch.

"Okay, so explain the situation to me." She demanded to Irene.

"Alright, so last night I had a dream about Morpheus telling me I'm a half-blood and I must go to Half-Blood hill with you and my dad."

Ariana interrupted her. "I had the same dream, except I could see a bird's eye view of what was going on."

"How were you able to see the same-" Irene started to say.

"Continue." Her father pressed.

"I woke up to see a piece of parchment on my desk, with the directions on it." She finished.

"Can I see it?" Ariana asked.

"Uh, yeah, I'll go get it." Irene said standing up and coming back with the parchment in hand. She handed it to Ariana who took it with great interest.

"Yep, that sounds like the dream. Now that I'm caught up to speed, what's the plan." Ariana asked.

"We're leaving tomorrow, as soon as I can get my paycheck and cash it in. We'll be taking the train"

"What about school?" Irene asked forgetfully.

"It'll be alright. I'll send some books that you can work in." He said.

"Could you girls start packing if that's all the questions you have?" He said standing up and walking to the laptop that's sitting on the counter.

"Nope, I think we're good." Irene answered. They headed into Irene's room to start packing. Ariana opened her closet.

"So, what should we pack?" Irene asked.

"Clothes, brushes, personal trinkets, stuff like that. Stuff you'd bring to camp." Ariana answered pulling out some shirts that weren't fancy and could get ruined.

"I'll go get the other stuff." Irene said walking into the bathroom. She pulled out a small cosmetic travel bag out from under the sink cabinet and started putting her toothbrush and brush into it. She finished in the bathroom, moving to her dresser where her personal things laid upon it. She stuffed a ring of keys that could unlock any door into a small brown satchel. Her mother had left it for her, now that she knows who her mother is, she can understand why. She picked some lucky trinkets off her dresser and stuffed it into the satchel. She walked over to Ariana as she was picking pants out for her.

"I'm done. Are you almost finished?" Irene asked. She pulled out a final pair of pants and set it on the bed.

"Now I am. Do you have a duffel bag?" Ariana asked.

"Uh, I think so…" Irene said getting a duffel bag out of her dad's closet. She walked back to her room, setting the duffel bag at the edge of the bed. Ariana and Irene started to stuff the clothes into the duffel bag and zipping it up, which proved to be very difficult, for the bag was at it's capacity. When the bag was all zipped up, Irene put her traveling bag into the side pocket of the duffel bag. She carried the bags to the door of their apartment and set them down. They waited for her dad to finish whatever he was doing. He closed his laptop and walked over to the girls.

"Alright, I bought the train tickets, and we'll be leaving at noon tomorrow. I'm going to go to the bank, will you girls be alright by yourselves?" He stated.

"Yes, Mr. William, we'll be fine." Ariana assured him. "I'll protect her." This last part she murmured, to where Irene couldn't hear her.

He came and kissed Irene on her forehead, opening and closing the door behind him. Irene locked it. Ariana walked over to the sofa and plopped down on it.

"So, what should we do in the meantime? Movies, makeovers, painting our nails?" She asked.

"Hmm, let's watch a movie. Your choice." Irene replied, plopping down next to her.

"I'm in the mood for something serious..." She said scrolling through the list of movies on Netflix.

"Dead Poets Society?" She asked Irene with an brow raised.

"Sure, haven't seen it." Ariana hovered over the description of it and said

"Me neither." She clicked it and hit pause.

"I'll get the blankets and popcorn." Irene said standing up and walking to her bedroom. She brought her and Ariana a blanket and put some popcorn in the microwave. Ariana set up the sofa and recliner with the pillows and blankets as Irene leaned against the fridge watching the popcorn. When the microwave beeped, Ariana was already snuggled up in her blanket on the recliner arm chair. Irene took the bag out carefully, setting it on the counter and getting bowls out of the cabinet. She poured the popcorn in each, having some leftover. She brought the bowls and the bag over to the coffee table and handed Ariana a bowl. She took it and smiled. Irene went back into the kitchen and got some salt and popcorn seasoning, placing them on the table. She laid on the sofa, wrapped the blanket around herself, and reached over and set the bowl in her lap, adding some seasoning. She clicked play and the movie started.

Near the end of the movie, her dad had come home and they had paused it.

"Hey dad. Want some popcorn?" She offered. He reclined her request, walking to his room, closing the door softly.

"What was that about?" Ariana asked.

"I've got no clue. Though it sure has him down in the dumps." Irene said beginning to worry.

"He may be sad about what's going to happen, you coming to camp and all…" Ariana murmured to herself.

"What?" Irene asked.

"Nothing! Just talking to myself." She said, unpausing the movie. They settled back down and finished what was left of it. When the movie was over, the clock on the microwave showed it was 9 p.m.

"Hey, we should get some sleep, big day tomorrow." Ariana said stretching and yawning.

"Yeah, but, it's so comfy and warm here." Irene said closing her eyes.

"Fine, but I'm sleeping in your bed."

"Okay." Irene said in her sleep.

Ariana got up and carried her blanket to Irene's room. She fell onto the bed and curled up. Minutes later she was sound asleep. Morning came all too quickly, with friendly chirps of the birds living in the near-by trees.

Irene woke up and found herself on the floor, curled up next to the coffee table. She gave a short chuckle and started to stretch. She grabbed her blanket and walked into her room to wake Ariana.

"Come on, get up. I'm going to make pancakes!" She said sleepily.

Ariana stirred, muttering "Five more minutes….".

Irene ripped the covers off of her. "No, get up now!"

Ariana started to snore softly. "Ugh, come on."

Irene started to tickle her, knowing this will upset her.

"No, stop, don't!" Ariana said fidgeting, trying to stop Irene from tickling her. She finally sat up and gave Irene the death stare.

"Oh, don't look at me like that." Irene said walking out of the room and into the kitchen. She got a bowl of pancake batter out of the fridge from yesterday's batch and started to pour it onto a skillet. She got out a spatula from a drawer. She set that on top of the skillet handle and went into her dad's bedroom. He wasn't awake yet so she couldn't ask what kind of pancakes he wanted. She went into her bedroom instead.

"Hey, what'cha want on your pancakes?" She asked.

"Hmm, you guys got some blueberries?" Irene nodded.

"I'll have those, please." Ariana said smiling.

Irene went back into the kitchen and watched the pancakes brown. She got some plates, butter, syrup, and toppings out. She set them on the island counter and Ariana trudged into the kitchen, sitting in a stool underneath the counter. Her eyes widened as she saw the delicious pancakes being placed in front of her.

"Thank you!" She said excitedly.

Irene got silverware out from a drawer and placed them on a napkin next to her plate.

"What do you want to drink? Milk, OJ, or water?" She asked.

"OJ, please!" She got out OJ from the fridge, a cup and filled up her glass. Ariana buttered her pancakes and began cutting them, adding blueberries and syrup on them. Irene poured more batter onto the skillet, having given all four pancakes to Ariana. She set down the bowl and walked over to her father's room to check on him again. This time, he was up and putting on his glasses.

"Dad, what kind of pancakes do you want?" She asked.

"Chocolate Chip please, dear." He requested.

She nodded and went back into the kitchen. She started to add little chocolate chips into the last bit of batter, the pancakes browning on the stove almost done. She got out another plate for her dad and got out a glass for him too. She put the pancakes on her plate and started to pour the Chocolate Chip batter onto the skillet. She waited for her Dad's pancakes to be ready before she buttered hers up and added toppings.

She ate on the counter happily, glad the pancakes turned out well. Ariana drained her glass of OJ, burping loudly after she set it down onto the counter. They exchanged a glance and burst out laughing as her dad walked into the kitchen.

"What'cha girls laughing about?" He asked adding toppings to his plate of pancakes and putting butter on them.

"Nothing!" The girls said in unison which made them laugh even more.

After they were finished with their giggle fits, they put their dishes in the sink and headed into Irene's room to get changed. Irene brought a pair of jeans, a capri blue V-neck shirt, and some socks into the bathroom. She finished changing and came out to see Ariana wearing long black cargo pants with a white drawstring shirt. Ariana began putting on some Vans as Irene put on her combat boots.

They left the room, arms linked, and sat down together, giggling. Irene's dad looked at the two as he drank his milk, eyebrows raised. He set the glass down and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Would you girls like to go to the park? We can take Ace with us." He asked.

The girls nodded excitedly and said "Sure!"

Ace was the next-door neighbor's dog, a blue tricolor merle male who often had to be taken care of on the weekends due to his owners date nights. The two got up and started walking to the door of the apartment, Irene's dad following after them. They walked down to Ace's apartment, and Irene's dad unlocked the door with his key.

A hyper merle greeted them as they opened the door, and circled them excitedly as they went to find his leash. Ariana and Irene went and found his things, tacked him up, and waited outside the apartment door with Ace. Irene's dad came and locked up, and they began walking down the stairs. Ariana and Ace decided to go down the wheelchair side of the stairs, and race down it to see if Irene could beat them. She couldn't.

The park was a couple blocks down, so they decided to walk there. Ace was super excited, wagging his tail non-stop. They reached the park, and the two girls un-leashed Ace and started to run with him. They chased him, threw a tennis ball and the other would try to get to it first before the dog, and leaned against the dog when they were all tuckered out.

Irene's dad was quietly reading a book on a bench, and he closed it shut when the girls came over and sat next to him, the dog sitting at their feet. "Are you girls worn out, now?" He asked them. They nodded. "Alright then, how about we head home." They agreed.

By the time they got home, it was a quarter till noon. The girls went ahead and put Ace back in his apartment along with his things, and they collapsed onto the sofa. Irene's dad had check the mail down stairs and was coming back up with a slightly disappointed grin on his face. He was secretly hoping that the money wouldn't have came through, and he could keep his daughter for a little longer.

He waved at the girls before heading into his bedroom, counting down the minutes until they had to leave.

Ariana stood up and walked to the fridge, where pictures of the two girls when they were little were hung. She smiled sadly, knowing it'd be awhile before Mr. William could his daughter back, full time. Irene wondered why she was giving a strange look to the pictures before he dad walked into the room and announced "It's time to go girls. Start loading things into the car."

Irene picked up her duffel bag, and Ariana grabbed her satchel. They carried it down the stairs, heaving it into the back of the car. They sat in the back seat, waiting for her dad. Ariana kept the satchel with her, for safe keeping.

"Ariana, what's going to happen? Why do you and Dad look like somebody just died?" She asked

"I can't tell you, yet, but, let's say, you'll be gone for a bit." She answered, not meeting her eyes

"Oh, that's why..."

Mr. William came into the car, started it up, and drove silently to Montauk. He made it half-way on the gas he had filled up with, but a taxi drove the two girls the rest of the way there. That was the last he would ever see of his precious girl.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Sorry it's been a while! I was hoping for a couple of more reviews, so, if you like this, please review! Any comments/criticism would be much appreciated. Thank you so much!_


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